• Scientists have been pushing to change the name in a bid to avoid discrimination and stigma, which could make people afraid of testing and getting vaccinated.
• Currently, more that 81,000 cases of mpox have been reported in the recent outbreak.
Image: GETTY IMAGES
According to CNN, the World Health Organization on Monday announced that monkeypox has been renamed to "mpox."
“Both names will be used simultaneously for one year while ‘monkeypox’ is phased out,” WHO said.
US President Joe Biden said they welcome the change and the US will use the new name "mpox" going forward.
WHO said monkeypox was named in 1970, a decade after the virus causing the disease was discovered in captive monkeys.
Monkeypox may not have started in monkeys and its origin is still unknown. The virus can also be found in other kinds of animals.
WHO published best practices for naming diseases in 2015 meaning mpox was named long before.
Since the beginning of the recent outbreak, scientists have been pushing to change the name in a bid to avoid discrimination and stigma, which could make people afraid of testing and getting vaccinated.
The outbreak has largely affected homosexual men. Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that Black and Hispanic people have been disproportionately affected.
“We must do all we can to break down barriers to public health, and reducing stigma associated with disease is one critical step in our work to end mpox,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
Recently, New York's Health commissioner Dr Ashwin Vasan wrote a letter to WHO seeking that it acts fast on a new name.
"There is growing concern for the potentially devastating and stigmatising effects that the messaging around the ‘monkeypox’ virus can have on these already vulnerable communities,” Vasan said.
The organisation, in August, encouraged people to suggest new names for the disease through their website.
On Monday, WHO said the consultation process involved experts from medical, scientific, classification and statistics advisory committees, which constituted of representatives from government authorities of 45 different countries.
“The issue of the use of the new name in different languages was extensively discussed. The preferred term mpox can be used in other languages,” WHO said.
The organization however said monkeypox will still be searchable in the International Classification of Diseases.
This is to allow access to historic information and the one-year period when both names will be used allowing publications to be updated.
Currently, more that 81,000 cases of mpox have been reported in the recent outbreak.
WHO says the risk is still moderate globally though the outbreak continues to primarily affect homosexual men outside of countries in West and Central Africa.